Wellspring Literary Series: Kelly Fordon

KELLY FORDON’S second poetry collection, What Trammels the Heart, was published by SFAPress in June 2025. Her short story collection, I Have the Answer (Wayne State University Press, 2020), was chosen as a Midwest Book Award Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. Her 2016 Michigan Notable Book, Garden for the Blind (WSUP), was an INDIEFAB Finalist, a Midwest Book Award Finalist, an Eric Hoffer Finalist, and an IPPY Awards Bronze Medalist. Her first full-length poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House (Kattywompus Press, 2019), was an Eyelands International Prize Finalist and an Eric Hoffer Finalist. It was later adapted into a play by Robin Martin and published in The Kenyon Review Online. She runs a fiction podcast called “Let’s Deconstruct a Story” and a poetry blog. 

The Wellspring Literary Series has become a destination venue for Michigan writers and poets from around the state to share their work here in Mount Pleasant with a large, receptive audience. In addition to providing a space to hear some of Michigan's best writers, the series also provides opportunities for CMU writing students to read their works-in-progress in public alongside these prominent authors. The Wellspring Literary Series also features music performed by students and faculty members from the CMU School of Music, as well as local Musicians. All readings are free and open to the public and take place at the Art Reach of Mid Michigan